5GET GOOGLE REVIEWS Photography websites ranking at
the top of the maps listings and search
results have Google Reviews. You must
be signed up with a Google Plus account
personal profile as well as a profile for
your business in order to be reviewed.

(In Google Plus, there’s an area of your
profile where you can list all of your
local information, so don’t miss out on
adding all of your local details.)

Google Reviews is the first place you
should be asking your clients for reviews,
regardless of the kind of photography you
do. You need this in order to be ranked
locally. Once your business is listed with
Google and shows up in Maps, you should
have a goal of at least a review a week
in the beginning. It is recommended that
you get at least five Google Reviews, so
email past clients now! Ask customers to
Google you, and where it says “X” amount
of Google reviews, they will see the option
“write a review.” There is also an option to
write a review in Maps.

Bonus Tip: If you have a retail space
or you do in-person sales at home, have
a sign that says “Review My Business on
Google,” giving customers instructions
on how to do it. Another tip: Somewhere
on your blog and website, have “
Follow Me on Google Plus” with a link to
your Google Plus Business page. Google
changes so fast that while I was writing
this article, it launched a new area for
businesses called “Google My Business.”
Google also just mailed me a sticker sign
to add to my storefront, which says “
Review Us on Google.”

6LINK AND GET LINKS TO LOCAL BUSINESSES

As photographers, we would all loveto be featured on those amazing, hugewedding or lifestyle blogs—which, afterall, can be great for SEO. Some areasnot to ignore, though, are smaller blogs,business websites and association web-sites. This is especially true if they arelocal businesses because when business-es link to each other, they all becomestronger in their local online presence.

Local businesses always need online
marketing help, so be an expert for
them, too. In return they can help you
by linking to your business, interviewing you on their blog and sharing your
business on their social media platforms.

This is great for wedding photographers
wanting to work with new wedding
venues—call or email the venue saying
you are featuring it on your blog as a
preferred venue, then stop by to take
some images for your blog post. Once
you blog about that venue, you then
tweet at them. I have a saying that if
you promote someone online, they can’t
ignore you—and it works!

Bonus Tip: If you do any work for a
community college or university, take
pictures for an agency related to local
government or do a shoot for a nonprofit organization, and try to get them
to link to your work! Most .edu, .gov
and .org web addresses have a very high
rank authority, and having a link from
one of them is like finding a golden egg.

7BLOG ABOUT YOUR LOCATION

Photographers always say they don’t know
what to blog about. One way to cure that is
to blog about your local community.

Some ideas:

If you’re a portrait photographer focusingmostly on kids, then blog about things thatparents—your big target audience—careabout: what to do with their kids! This isone of the most-searched topics in the NewYork City area, for example. Blog topicscould be:• Four things your kids can do in Town A• The secret to entertaining yourchild in City B• What to do with your child inthe summer• How to plan back to schoolDo a calendar round-up post of eventsin your area once a month, and then sharethat post to social media using the city’shashtag.

Shoot a photo series about your
city, such as “ 100 Things I Love About
Philadelphia,” and then do a blog post
about it. Once blogged, tweet it with a
hashtag that includes your location. This
is a creative way to get in front of your
audience, while telling Google you are
affiliated with City A and offering useful information for folks searching for
things to do in that area so you become
a trusted source.